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Sunday, September 13

Gamba 3 - 2 Vissel

What a miserable night.
As a Vissel Kobe supporter, there is nothing worse than losing to Gamba. Having been undefeated in the league against them for 4 years, this was going to happen sooner or later - but it's still painful.

We deserved to lose the game. Right from the go - Gamba dominated. They outclassed us all over the pitch, particularly in the center, indicating that our veteran volante partnership of Miyamoto and Kim may not be the answer against strong opposition. All three of their goals looked easy, but, in all fairness, were the result of pure class. Lucas was immense up front for them, reminding us that every team needs a strong, fast striker who is not afraid to shoot (have we ever had one of those?).
As usual, we had our moments but they were few and far between. Ishibitsu's cross to set up Mogi's header was pinpoint accurate giving us hope midway through the first half. We equalized through an Okubo PK which I think we were lucky to get. I haven't seen the replay yet but I think it was given for a late tackle on Yoshida by their keeper.
Some will disagree with me but I thought Enomoto was poor. Although they were not his fault, he could've saved their 2nd and 3rd goals had he been on his usual form.

To sum up, everything about last night was shitty.
A late KO at Banpaku on a Saturday night - it takes forever to get there and even longer to get back (after changing trains about 18 times).
The ground sucks. You can sit anywhere and still be at least 150 meters from the pitch! Exits are limited (1 in the away section) causing huge queues for a crowd that was far from big, and the fans have to listen to ear-piercing shitty remixes of shitty 90's dance music (in mono) through a crackling speaker placed conveniently behind us for most of the evening.
And... it rained. Man, did it rain.

My one regret about last night was not drinking enough to cause the memory loss I'm usually faced with on a Sunday morning.